One Stepper and 2 servo's one arduino

Using Arduino Motors, Mechanics, Power and CNC
1

Hello guys!

I am planning on making an robotic arm with servo's, controlled with potmeters. But since I want the arm to be able to rotate 360 deg I intend using an stepper motor (28BYJ) for the base.
Now I have managed to write a script where I have the stepper motor working and a script where the servo's are working. But I cant manage to combine these two.

So what i did is write 4 different voids, one for the stepper going clockwise, one ccw and one where is is doing nothing depending on the potvalue, and one void where I describe the servo.

Now when I use the servo() in the loop the servo's work, but the stepper doesn't. Anyone knows how I can make both the servo and stepper motors work at the same time independently?

Greetings Marn! :slight_smile:

#include <Servo.h>
Servo myservo1;
Servo myservo2;

int motorPin1 = 8; 
int motorPin2 = 9; 
int motorPin3 = 10; 
int motorPin4 = 11;

int motorSpeed=0;
int pot0 = A0;
int pot1 = A1;
int pot2 = A2;
int valPot0 = 0;
int valPot1;
int valPot2;
 
void setup()
{
pinMode(motorPin1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorPin4, OUTPUT);
Serial.begin(9600);
myservo1.attach(2);
myservo2.attach(3);
myservo1.write(0);
myservo2.write(0);
delay(100);
}

void loop() 
{ 
servo();
valPot0=analogRead(pot0);

 if (valPot0<400){
  motorSpeed = 2;
  clockwise();
  
 }
 if ((valPot0>400)&&(valPot0<600));{
  motorSpeed = 0;
  stopwise();
 }
 if (valPot0>600){
  motorSpeed = 2;
  counterclockwise();
 }
Serial.print("pot0:");
Serial.println(valPot0);
Serial.print("pot1:");
Serial.println(valPot1);
Serial.print("pot2:");
Serial.println(valPot2);
Serial.print('\n');

}

void steppermotor(){
  
}

void counterclockwise (){
 // 1
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 2
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay (motorSpeed);
 // 3
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 4
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 5
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 6
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
 delay (motorSpeed);
 // 7
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 8
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
 delay(motorSpeed);
}

void clockwise(){
 // 1
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 2
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 delay (motorSpeed);
 // 3
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 4
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 5
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 6
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
 delay (motorSpeed);
 // 7
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 8
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, HIGH);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, HIGH);
 delay(motorSpeed);
}
void stopwise (){
 // 1
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 2
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay (motorSpeed);
 // 3
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 4
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 5
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 6
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay (motorSpeed);
 // 7
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
 // 8
 digitalWrite(motorPin1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin3, LOW);
 digitalWrite(motorPin4, LOW);
 delay(motorSpeed);
}

void servo(){
valPot1= map(analogRead(pot1), 0 ,1023, 0 , 180);
myservo1.write(valPot1);
delay(500);

valPot2= map(analogRead(pot2), 0 ,1023, 0 , 180);
myservo2.write(valPot2);
delay(500);
}
2

I found the solution myself already.
Due to the delays at the end on the servo script it was taking very long.

Found out I could use a Arduino timer interrupt.
Greetings :slight_smile:

3

Another approach might be to look at how millis() is used to manage timing without blocking in Several Things at a Time.

Note how each function runs very briefly and returns to loop() so the next one can be called. None of the functions tries to complete a task in one call. And there may be dozens of calls to a function before it is actually time for it to do anything.

And see Using millis() for timing. A beginners guide if you need more explanation.

...R

4

AccelStepper library is non-blocking if you use the run() method... Much easier to integrate into
complex sketches.

They are called functions, not voids. Void is the marker to indicate no result is returned.